What piece of equipment do you have to show us today?
My MF-103 12-Stage Phaser. This piece of equipment, the Moogerfooger Phaser, is a pedal made by Moog. I lay-by’d it and kept up with the payments, and now I’m lucky enough to call it my own. It always surprises me with the scope of sounds it produces, and I think perhaps because it is more geared towards Moog equipment and perhaps keyboards, I can get some really wild guitar sounds out of it, which is one of the reasons I love it so much.
How did you come across this particular item?
A few years back I got trapped in a YouTube hole of looking up Moog synths – they were all so out of my price range. Along the way I came across the Moog pedals and got pleasantly surprised. For a long time my set up was just a wah, or a wah combined with a basic distortion pedal – but the Moog phaser offered that same distortion but with so so much more.
What is it that you like about it so much?
With the Moog pedal, I love how many options you have. There is an oscillator, or you can keep the signal more basic, or use it as the best distortion ever by turning the gain up. I tend to set it on a crazy setting most of the time, I probably should try to tone it down a little but sometimes I can’t help it.
How do you use it and how has it shaped the way you write music?
I only use this pedal live, I don’t really use it at home or in the writing process. It’s kinda a live thing for me when used with guitar, and it’s purely electrifying and part of the whole live rock outfit style.
I’m really interested in using it with a keyboard, and also spending more time experimenting with its features, although these days I seem to dedicate my time to making records and other projects. I’m not really a gear person in a sense, I know I love wah, I love this pedal. If I hear a sound I know I like it, but I’m a bit aloof when it comes to pedals. I am always amazed at talking to people who are really knowledgeable about all kinds of pedals and how they work together. I would love to experiment with all the other pedals that Moog make, but again they are a little pricy as far as pedals go.
Tell us a little about what you have coming up?
I’m about to do a little album tour for my new piano-based LP, Shyness, and I’ll be performing it at the Opera House, which is really exciting considering I flunked year two piano.
Shyness by Angie is out now through Rice Is Nice. Angie will play launches in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne in May/June.
